assurance vs hostage

assurance

noun
  • Insurance; a contract for the payment of a sum on occasion of a certain event, as loss or death. Assurance is used in relation to life contingencies, and insurance in relation to other contingencies. It is called temporary assurance, in the time within which the contingent event must happen is limited. 

  • Subjective certainty of one's salvation. 

  • The act of assuring; a declaration tending to inspire full confidence; something designed to give confidence. 

  • Firmness of mind; undoubting steadiness; intrepidity; courage; confidence; self-reliance. 

  • The state of being assured; total confidence or trust; a lack of doubt; certainty. 

  • Excessive boldness; impudence; audacity 

  • Any written or other legal evidence of the conveyance of property; a conveyance; a deed. 

hostage

noun
  • A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal. 

  • The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a particular way. 

  • Something that constrains one's actions because it is at risk. 

  • A person seized in order to compel another party to act (or refrain from acting) in a certain way, because of the threat of harm to the hostage. 

  • One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat; one who is not free to choose their own course of action. 

verb
  • To hold (someone or something) hostage, especially in a way that constrains or controls the person or thing held, or in order to exchange for something else. 

  • To give (someone or something) as a hostage to (someone or something else). 

How often have the words assurance and hostage occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )